When I was a kid, like most boys my age, my mind was filled with heroic characters. My age-revealing personal favorites were The Lone Ranger, Roy Rogers, and Hop-along Cassidy. I wanted to be like the guys who righted wrongs, captured villains, and rode off into the sunset after single-handedly saving the day. The fact is that there was nothing singlehanded about it. Every one of my heroes had “sidekicks” who backed them up and helped them out in sticky situations.
The same goes for real life as we seek to become the men God created us be. God made us, like Himself, to live in community. But sadly, men have a tendency to isolate, which causes us to be, as one friend put it, “a security risk.”
When we try to go it alone, we become easy targets and can be picked off by the “bad guys” (lust, greed, power, etc.) before we can even get our gun out of the holster. Search the Scripture and consider your own experience and you’ll recognize that men who isolate become a danger to themselves, their family, their community, and the cause of Christ.
Twenty years ago, when I began helping men establish small groups, the following verse became a constant reminder of the importance of guys getting together.
Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them. (Matthew 18:19-20)
Christ promises His presence and power when a group of His followers meet and pray together. Today I’m more convinced than ever that we need a cohort of Christian men to encourage, sharpen, and support one another as we seek to follow Christ 24/7. We just can’t do this alone.
I just finished writing a free downloadable study guide to accompany What God Does When Men Lead. I encourage you to read the book and study through it with a group of guys. If you don’t have a small group of men with whom you meet, start one. Download here.
1 Comment »
- Some nice thoughts. As another observation, men sometimes get together well enough, but we keep it surface. Sports, cars, whatever. When men of faith gather, sometimes it is a good thing to have a pact that we will deal with deep subjects and not the kind of things that we enjoy and are good, but might not help us make real community.Comment by real live preacher
